This invention relates to a housing for rectifiers, and more particularly to an improved rectifier housing adapted to be releasably adhesively secured to the base of a light bulb.
The use of rectifier devices to extend the life of incandescent electric light bulbs is well known. In such devices a half-wave rectifier is inserted in the light bulb socket, between the socket center terminal and the tip contact of the typical threaded base type light bulb, in order to extend the life of the bulb by reducing the effective voltage applied to the bulb filament. The rectifier operates essentially to convert alternating current to pulsating direct current, the effective voltage level of which is lower than that of the alternating current source. By imposing a lower effective voltage upon the light bulb filament, the operating life thereof is substantially extended, in some instances enabling a bulb to operate for a period of 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for at least ten years.
Previous rectifier devices intended for use in connection with light bulbs have been retained in a flat, disc-type housing which is manually positioned within the lamp socket prior to the insertion of the bulb therein. If for some reason it is desired to remove the rectifier disc from a particular socket, it would normally be necessary to invert the socket to permit the disc to fall therefrom, a procedure which is particularly difficult when large or weighty lamp structures are involved. Additionally, the installation of such a rectifier disc in a socket which has its opening directed downwardly is particularly difficult because the rectifier disc must be balanced on the bulb tip contact or the socket temporarily inverted to permit the rectifier disc to be dropped therein prior to the installation of the bulb. That inversion procedure is impossible with ceiling fixtures without removing the socket, which is a cumbersome and time-consuming procedure.
It therefore is desirable to provide a rectifier having means to facilitate the installation of such a rectifier in a downwardly directed light bulb socket and to facilitate the removal of the rectifier from an upwardly extending light bulb socket without the necessity for requiring that a socket be inverted either for installation of the rectifier or for its removal therefrom.
There also is a need for a centering mechanism which ensures that the rectifier makes solid contact with the bulb and with the socket.